Spatial Law and Policy Survey

By
Kevin Pomfret

The United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) recently sent out a questionnaire to representatives from member nations titled: The Status of National Geospatial Information Management and Systems. Attached to the questionnaire is an addendum that was prepared by the Centre for Spatial Law and Policy at the request of the UN-GGIM. The purpose of the questionnaire is to begin to identify the policy and legal issues that impact the collection, use, analysis and transfer of geospatial information both within and across national borders.

The UN-GGIM staff agreed to allow the Centre to distribute the Addendum separately so that it can reach as broad an audience as possible. ( A copy can be found on the Centre's website). I encourage anyone interested to fill it out. (Please note that for administrative purposes it is a pdf so it will need to be scanned and returned via email.) Although the Addendum was prepared for government agencies, most of the issues are also applicable to industry and non-governmental organizations.

The plan is to analyze the results once they have been received in order to feed them back into the UN-GGIM process. The Centre also plans to review the results to develop future programs and services. In addition, the results will serve as a baseline upon which to compare future developments in Spatial Law and Policy.

I am pleased that the Centre can be a part of what I believe is a very important process. As a result, I encourage you to take a few minutes and fill out the Addendum. I also ask that you forward to others within the geospatial community who might be interested.